Standardization is Key: Unlocking the Potential of Data-Driven Maintenance

Efficient maintenance is an important factor in pharmaceutical manufacturing to assure production capacity and avoid unplanned downtime. For a data-driven approach to prescriptive maintenance, three types of data are relevant: time-based, condition-based, and metadata. To exploit the full potential of such an approach, all three types of data must be accessed and fully utilized. ZETA is driving digitalization and aims to develop practical solutions with added value for the pharmaceutical industry. In a cross-company working group, ZETA experts tested an IT/OT architecture for the exchange of time and condition-related sensor data in a proof of concept (PoC).

The PoC showed that the proposed architecture is able to access and efficiently handle time-based and condition-based data. However, during the project a third type of data was identified that is highly relevant for a data-driven maintenance approach: metadata from remote data sources.

To also include metadata in a standardized information model, the vendor-independent standard Asset Administration Shell (AAS) was identified as a viable solution. Once the envisioned progress has been made in developing a standard for the information model, it will be possible to deliver software applications that connect data across all equipment suppliers over the entire life cycle of an asset. This will enable maintenance and calibration activities to be carried out much more efficiently, and be a steppingstone for many other data-driven use cases.